Gindra
Gindra was a small country within Central Africa. Containing a total area of 553,000 square kilometers, it had a population of approximately 5 million, with around 2.25 million (45%) living in the cities, its desert and mountain communities being underdeveloped. Gindra was home to various ethnic groups, including the Boias, the Urbas, the Toreros (all of which alongside other minorities comprised 40% of the population) and the ethnic majority, the Gundas, which comprised 60% of the population. As a former colony of France, the country's official language was French, though there existed many other indigenous languages. 50% of its populace followed the dominant native religion, while 20% were of the Muslim faith, and Catholics and Protestants were 15% each. The region has seen both ethnic and religious conflicts during its history. Gindra's overall climate was subtropical for the most part, and divided between the hot rainy season and the cold dry season. Winter ran from May to August, and can have its temperature drop as low as minus 26.8 degrees. Summer ran from September to November, with its mean temperature being 85 degrees, although its daytime temperature can occasionally be as high as 104 degrees. Its rainy season lasted from October to April, and its annual precipitation was approximately 650 mm. Because of its largely ambivalent weather, its schedules were made to take into account of the weather: The work day began at around 7:30 am, schools and banks closed for the day at 12:30 pm, the populace took siestas between 12:00 and 15:00 (12:00 pm and 3:00 pm), with businesses resuming around 15:30 (3:30 pm) and close shop for the night at 19:00 (7:00 pm). History Gindra was "discovered" by French explorers around the late 19th century, resulting in its colonization. However, even during this time, there were intense discussions relating to Gindra in the legislature from repeated violence within the labor camps for French businesses in the region. Its independence was eventually started in the aftermath of the European Theater in World War II, as a result of the Brazzaville convention in 1944 under Charles de Gaulle's third republic. It also had some inequities such as being banned from having the right to French citizenship being removed from the Overseas Territory Law and eventually achieved full independence in 1962. The country was fairly poor and uneducated. In addition, various developed countries usually exploited the people for wealth and otherwise would not help them under normal circumstances. Its economic imports were mainly machinery, medication, and food supplies from various countries, including the United States, France, Germany, and Japan, due to its lack of a domestic production infrastructure. This consequently left its machinery and medicine supplies extremely expensive, and all fish save for freshwater fish (which contain parasites) being imports due to it being landlocked. Its economic exports, officially, were of gold (of which six hundred thousand carats are produced each year), diamonds (which make up 40% of the exports), and rare metals, including uranium, manganese, and nickel, which it traded with the United States, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium, although unofficially, it was also the largest exporter of narcotics. Its gross national product (GNP) was $1.5 billion dollars, and the 2001 fiscal year's total exports and imports, respectively, were 55 billion CFA Francs and 95 billion CFA Francs. Following the aftermath of the Cold War, and the resulting development of infant democracies in the Third World, Gindra, like other African nations, began to have its traditional rivalries gain more significance and escalate into major internecine warfare. In addition, the country was under the rule of a military junta since at least 1997, after the Gunda Commander William Weah took power via a military junta and made himself president for life, and supplied much power to the military. In 1999, the Boias were being exterminated by an unknown ethnic group before General Augustine Eguabon arrived to turn the tide. Eguabon and the other Gindrans later formed the Gindra Liberation Front to create themselves to be a self-sustaining nation, especially for the Boia ethnic group, and were involved in an incident during their declaration of independence where they stole a Metal Gear unit from America during transport to South America for testing, six months after peacekeeping forces from the UN were deployed to Gindra. Gindra's strongest tourist attraction was its nature preserves, which were fairly numerous in number, and also a popular hunting place provided that the hunters have a license. However, because of conservation's growing influence, many hunting licenses were becoming scarce. In addition, souvenirs included ivory and wooden objects and exotic butterfly samples, the latter of which is legal as long as it was not subject to the Washington Convention of Endangered Species' list of endangered animals. As such, these souvenir stops, although technically having a listed price, requires those who are seeking out items to haggle for the items. Cars are also an absolute necessity in Gindra, with new cars being preferred due to Gindra having scarce amounts of spare parts for older car models. Geographically, it was inland, being 1000 kilometers away from the nearest coast. It possessed largely plateaus and deserts, the former of which peaked at 600 to 700 meters. It also had various mountain chains, several of which were as high as 1 kilometer, with Galuade being located on such a mountain range. Its most serious illness in the country is Malaria, where its strain was severe enough that even the preventable drugs aren't perfect. Its symptoms include a high fever between 100 and 104 degrees for two to three days accompanied by nausea and chills, extreme fatigue, and a lack of an appetite. Galuade Galuade was a military fortress located in the mountains of the eastern portionThis can be seen in the map shown in the intro of Ghost Babel. of Gindra,Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2000). Roy Campbell: Gindra. // Snake: Gindra? // Campbell: Central Africa; fairly small. ... GLF operate out of a virtually impregnable fortress, Galuade, in the mountains. where Outer Heaven once stood.Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2000). Solid Snake: Why can't you leave me alone? Alaska is quiet - and my life is good. // Campbell: You won't change your mind? // Snake: No. Campbell: Even if I tell you that the fortress Galuade, GLF's home base, was once called Outer Heaven? // Snake What? // Campbell: The very same place; where you went to war seven years ago, destroyed Metal Gear, and became the 'Legend.' It served as the main headquarters of the armed separatist group, the Gindra Liberation Front, and former U.S. special forces unit Black Chamber. In 2002, Solid Snake infiltrated Galuade in order to destroy the U.S. Government's Metal Gear GANDER, which had been hijacked by the GLF en route to a field exercise.Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2000). Campbell: A week ago, a C-5 Galaxy transport plane on a classified mission to South America vanished. // Snake: Terrorists? // Campbell: Of course. But the problem is what it was carrying. ... It was Metal Gear. // Snake: What! ... But I.... // Campbell: Yes, you destroyed Metal Gear in Outer Heaven seven years ago. But the U.S. Government recognized the strategic advantages of Metal Gear and secretly extracted the data from Outer Heaven. The development continued, just under a different flag. The South American hop was probably for a field exercise. The planned method of Snake's infiltration was by HALO jump 3 km south of Galuade's entrance around dawn.Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2000). Snake: This is Snake.... Colonel, can you hear me? // Campbell: Successful HALO landing, I see. // Snake: Nothing like skydiving at dawn. Present location, 3km south of fortress as planned. Heavy security; sentries ahead. The facility was rebuilt from Outer Heaven's shattered ruins, and installed with several state-of-the-art security equipment, enough to make the base nearly impregnable like Outer Heaven before it, and to prevent the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces and the Gindran government from infiltrating. Facilities The southern-most portion of the base was an area that presumably acted as a shipment area, which contained various crates, trucks, and some Strykers as well as miniature warehouses. The area was also separated by various chain-link fences with some of the doors secured by keycard locks. Furthermore, some of the buildings were presumably warehouses. One of the warehouses contained a small entrance to a duct that acted as an alternate entrance into a watch tower. The drainage duct would flood whenever there's a squall, necessitating that personnel within the drainage duct relocate from the ducts until the squall and the flood died down. To the north of the loading area was a watchtower. It was two stories high, and had gassed rooms and various crates. To the northeast are barracks used for the comfort of the personnel, as well as a prison for various VIPs, and to the north was a power plant that supplied power to the facility. It was also secretly the place that Metal Gear GANDER was stored. The way to the barracks were guarded by a special door system that necessitated that the personnel press the consoles operating the door in a specific order. Trucks were stationed here, and attack dogs also patrol the area alongside soldiers and some birds. The area was surrounded by a nearby cliff. The barracks were two stories high with a basement and contained various storage containment facilities for the storage of supplies. In addition, a conveyor belt system was utilized that monitored the color of cardboard boxes and placed them in the necessary storage containment area. The storage areas were also marked with A and B, with 4 rooms within each. To the northwest of the first floor of the barracks was an exit that led to the Maintenance Base. To the west and north of the Barracks was the Power Plant. The power plant was a two story building with a first basement floor. The first basement floor also the place where the generators that power the facility were located, although they were surrounded by an electric floor, presumably to ensure no one tried to sabotage the generators. It also contained a warehouse on the first floor, and the first basement floor was prone to flooding if a squall was severe enough to overflow the drainage duct and cause it to leak, which heightened the risk of the resulting puddles being hit with electricity. The plant had four structural weaknesses that would cause it to collapse. The Maintenance Base was protected by a mountain wall to the south, as well as an artillery unit installed on the mountainside. The Maintenance Base itself was the same building as the one that formerly contained TX-55 during the Outer Heaven Uprising. It also contained a cargo elevator and a runway for GANDER. Security systems *Electrified floors *Infrared sensors *Cyanide gas Behind the scenes Gindra is a fictional location in Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. The fortress of Galuade is located within this Central African country, rather than Outer Heaven's original location in the Republic of South Africa, as depicted in Metal Gear. Several references to Galuade are made in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, during some of the Colonel's strange transmissions to Raiden, as he traverses the inner sections of Arsenal Gear. Another reference is made in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where the Five-seveN is mentioned as having been used in Solid Snake's mission in Galuade. Notes and references Category:Locations Category:Outer Heaven Category:Military installations Category:Research facilities